DeFazio leads charge to end military draft registration agency
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two lawmakers are waging a little-noticed campaign to abolish the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that manages draft registration.
They say the millions of dollars the agency spends each year preparing for the possibility of a military draft is a waste of money.
Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., say the Pentagon has no interest in returning to conscription due to the success of the all-volunteer force.
The Selective Service has a budget of $24 million and a full-time staff of 130. It maintains a database of about 17 million potential male draftees.
In the event of a draft, the agency would mobilize as many as 11,000 volunteers to serve on local draft boards that would decide if exemptions or deferments to military service were warranted.
The Selective Service is an "inexpensive insurance policy," said Lawrence Romo, the agency's director. "We are the true backup for the true emergency."
Men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register and can do so online or by mail. Those who fail to register with the Selective Service can be charged with a felony. The Justice Department hasn't prosecuted anyone for that offense since 1986.
There can be other consequences, though. Failing to register can mean the loss of financial aid for college, being refused employment with the federal government, and denied U.S. citizenship.
DeFazio says it makes no sense to threaten to penalize men who don't register when the odds of a draft are so remote.
Attempts to get rid of the agency have failed, DeFazio says, because too many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill worry that closing Selective Service down will make them look weak on national security.
"There is no one who wants this except 'chicken hawk' members of Congress," DeFazio says, using a term to describe a person who pushes for the use of military power but never served in the armed forces.
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Online:
Selective Service: http://www.sss.gov
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Sounds like a good idea. Besides, you should be able to locate 18 year old's by their Social Security number should the need arise. Children have been getting Social Security numbers almost at birth for a couple of decades now.
It's not a bad idea. Â $24 million isn't even pocket change, but it is a step in the right direction and sends a message that government agencies can outlive their usefulness.
Hey, all you old sailors. What do you make of this. One would think a Hawaiian would know better than to line up his fleet (especially with 2 nuke reactors in each) in the middle of a metropolis populated by the shipyard workers and facilities required to repair the Atlantic fleet.  What do you think? ...Besides that fact that Norfolk has great NCO club. I loved the machine gun bullets recessed in the tables.
http://news.usni.org/2013/02/08/navy-lincoln-refueling-delayed-will-hurt-carrier-readiness/five-carriers-in-norfolk
The all-volunteer military is a success? So why are the same troops sent back into the line of fire over and over and over? Or can it be because women might also get drafted?
You are on to something. It is funny how they allow women into direct combat roles, but now they want to end the draft. What is up with that?
@dkgiovenco
The use of selective service as a draft tool is antiquated.
In the last 20 years, everyone has been born and right after they are given a name (and sometimes before) they get an SS number.
Indeed I surmise that nearly 90+% of the population between 18 and 25 have such a number and information about them connected to it is correct enough to make contact with them.
Thus the 21st century draft will use that (indeed the original draft used it too) and since women are given SS numbers at birth the same as men, no selective service agency is needed until it is needed and then BOTH men and women will be subject to it.
Unless of course they wonât be. I bet they wonât be.
Fair enough. Most people in America don't register for it anyway.
Only us natural-born male citizens have to do it. That's why I think it's funny that lots of my Facebook friends are all "about time-ing" each other now that women are formally in combat (Clara Barton was in combat) but none of them ever actually had to register.
If we cancel this, we can afford to pin more medals on drone pilots.
@PlayanekesÂ
Had a roommate who wanted to go to school.
Now I went back to school and told him how cool it was (because well it was). I got financial aid. Not a bad deal, I was 26+ and felt since I had paid taxes for the last decade I was entitled to school to train to be something other than a warehouse worker.
But he could not get it. Since he was 26 he was too old to register for selective service. Since he had not registered he could not get state or federal financial aid.
While it serves no purpose for the military, it does a good job of pinning people foolish enough to NOT register against the wall.
And the reason why my friend didnât register? The first Gulf War. He mom felt the draft would be brought back and he would get drafted.